William d



W. D. HANCOCK.

LINER.

APPLICATION FILED MARIN. Isle. RENEWED IAN. Io. IQIQ.

smrnn srnrns PATENT ornion WLLIAM D. HANCOCK, OF SPRINGVTLLE, TENNESSEE.

i LIFTER.

JSZLE.

Application led March 23, 1916, Serial No. 86,226.

To all u2/tom '25 may concern Be it known that l, VILLIAM. D. HANCOCK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springville, in the county of Henry and State of Tennessee, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Lifters, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to lifting devices and more particularly to a lifter for cans and jars, the primary object being to provide a lifter, having gripping jaws which will normally be held in engagement with the jar or can which is desired to be lifted thereby obviating the necessity of holding the handles in engagement with each other while the device is being used.

A. further object of this invention is the provision of a lifter which consists of comparatively few parts and is simple in con struction, but durable and well adapted to vwithstand the rough usage to which devices of this character are ordinarily subjected.

For a full description of the invention and the advantages and merits thereof, reference is to be had to the following des-cription and the accompanying drawings, wherein is illustrated the preferred form of my invention, in which;

Figure l is a top plan.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the pivoted members. i The device is formed of two stra-nds of wire which are bent to form pivoted gripping members provided with operating handles. The member A is formed from a single strand of wire which is bent upon itself as at l thereby forming one end of the operating handle, the side arms 2 of which extend in spaced relation to each other for a length great enough to provide a generous handle for the device, the arms 2 then being bent at right angles to provide pintles 3 upon which the gripping member B is pivoted in a manner that will be presently described. The strand of wire is again bent at the terminals of the pintles and is curved to form the gripping jaws 4f and it will. be observed that these jaws are spaced apart for a greater distance than the jaws of the opposing` gripping member.

The gripping member B is also formed from a single strand of wire and is bent as at 5 to provide the end of the handle and Specification of Letters .'atent.y

atented July S, 1919.

Renewed January 10, 1919. Y Serial No. 270,583.

the side arms 6 terminate in coils 7 which, when the device is assembled, surrounds the pintles 3 of the gripping mem-ber A. The ends of the wire of this member are extended beyond the coils and are curved to provide the gripping aws S and these ljaws are -'spaced apart for a distance considerably less than the space between the jaws 4 of the member A. From this construction it will be apparent that the pivoted members may be operated by their handles for opening and closing the aws for grasping and releasing a can or jar as shown by t-he dotted lines in Fig. l.

Tt is often desirable, especially while preserving or canning, to set the jar down without releasing the lifter therefrom and to accomplish this, I provide a spring for normally holding the jaws in closed position thereby causing the jaws to tightly grip the can or jar even through the hand of the user is removed from the handles of the lifter.

The spring action is obtained through the medium of the arms 2 of the member A the ends of which are connected to the pintle 3 as above set forth. A strand of wire has its ends coiled about the aws 8 at points adj acent the coil 7 and the wire is then extended over the pintles 3 and under the ends of the arm 2 of the member A as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing. This wire acts as a. binding wire for retaining the coils 7 in proper relative position whereby they cannot move away from each other when the member A is swung on the pintles. Since the ends of the arm 2, at the point where they join the pin-- tles are in engagement with the approximate edges of the coil it will be observed that when the handle it is swung, the helical formation of the coils will cause the members 2 to be forced toward each other since the binding element 9 will prevent the coils from moving away from each other. This action, of course, makes a spring of the handle member A, and, after the jaws are open, the same will immediately spring to closed position when the handle is released.

From the foregoing, it will be observed that a very simple and durable lifting deM vice has been provided, the details of which embody the preferred form. I desire it to be understood however, that slight changes or modifications in the minor details of construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the claim hereunto appended.

I claim:

A device of the character described comprising oppositely disposed handles provided with jaws, each handle formed from a single strand of wire bent intermediate its ends to provide laterally spaced arms, one of the said handles having the ends of its arms bent outwardly at right angles to provide pintles, the corresponding handle having the ends of the arms coiled around the said pintles, the bent ends of the said arm having the pintles thereon, being engaged with the convolutions of the said coils, the

said arm having a resiliency to normally maintain the said pintles extended through the coils to urge the said coils away from each other, a binding wire connecting the coils for maintaining' them in laterally spaced relation whereby a turning movement of the pintles in the said coils will cause the arms of the pintles to move toward each other.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM D. HANCOCK. Vitnesses:

CHARLES FARMER, I-IETTIE FARMER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

